One person was killed and three others injured on the Pomurje highway in the valley of Čentiba when two Ukrainian shuttle buses collided earlier this week, as reported by the local media. Both vehicles were Mercedes Benz Sprinters. It seems one of the tyres of the first vehicle burst, causing the shuttle to roll over on its side. Less than a minute later the second shuttle hit the first, then drove off the highway. A 63-year-old Ukrainian citizen died after falling from this vehicle, while three other people were also injured from a third, although none seriously.

STA, 11 December 2018 - Slovenia expects to record more than 5.6 million tourist arrivals and more than 15.2 million tourist nights by the end of 2018, in what will be yet another record year. Tourism revenue is also growing, up by almost 12% to EUR 2.12m in the first nine months of the year at annual level.

"That 2018 will be a new record year is already clear. The number of tourist nights from 2017 was exceeded as early as the end of October," Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said at a news conference in Ljubljana on Tuesday.

He attributed the good results to cooperation. "Measures by the ministry and the Slovenian Tourist Board (STO) have not been that well harmonised in a long time, tourism companies and destinations have not been that responsive and creative in a long time."

This year's promotion has been largely based on culture, which will also be the case in 2019. STO director Maja Pak said 2018 was one of the most intensive and successful in terms of marketing.

She is also happy with the media attention abroad, stressing Slovenia had been regularly making it to lists of recommended destinations. "Slovenia is not only a recognisable destination, it is now a trendy destination."

Minister Počivalšek (@PocivalsekZ): Turizem je ena najbolj interdisciplinarnih in multiplikativnih dejavnosti, ki je tesno povezana tudi s kulturo.
?3 ključna področja za #aktivirajmovrednost➡️
?prestrukturiranje
?kreditna shema
?prenova zakonodaje pic.twitter.com/TZsW3rUyJP

— Slovenia Tourism (@tourism_slo) December 11, 2018

Slovenian food and drink the next focus of tourism efforts, along with some restructuring

Looking ahead, the STO said it would be all about gastronomy in 2020 and 2021 as Slovenia had been chosen the European Region of Gastronomy 2021 and influential French restaurant guide Gault & Millau published a Slovenian edition of its high-profile restaurant guide.

The minister announced his ministry will be working on three priorities next year: restructuring of state-owned tourism companies, a loan scheme worth EUR 160m and legislation simplification.

Počivalšek insists on the restructuring in line with the national asset management strategy, which envisages bringing all the companies under the roof of Slovenian Sovereign Holding, improving their management to secure a higher added value and then privatising them.

Noting "things were going in the desired direction", he is convinced the project will be successfully carried out, including the privatisation already under this government.

He insists the companies must be sold to good owners with a development vision.

"In all sectors, I promote prudent privatisation to the benefit of a company which is on sale, to the benefit of Slovenia, not to the benefit of the seller."

The minister is open as to who the new owners would be, saying the hotels could be sold to domestic or foreign companies, or to asset management funds.

Počivalšek also said there was a lot of interest in the loan scheme, so he believes the funds will be well used to increase the number of accommodation facilities.

State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogar said the ministry would continue to simplify legislation, taking on the hospitality law and the law on mountain guides.

Related: All our stories tagged “tourism” are here

STA, 11 December 2018 - Giving up on the National Institute for Congenital Heart Disease, which was scheduled to become operational in May this year, Health Minister Samo Fakin announced on Tuesday that the child heart cardiology programme would continue to be run by the UKC (Univerzitetni klinični center) Ljubljana hospital, albeit as part of a separate organisational unit.

The announcement comes a year after the government founded the National Institute for Congenital Heart Disease in response to a dysfunctional programme at Slovenia's main hospital.

While UKC, seeing a series of departures by surgeons and management staff involved in the programme in recent years, has been trying to make do with foreign specialists, the institute has failed to get off the ground, also being denied funding from the health purse operator ZZZS.

Tensions were also reported between UKC and the institute and the head of the institute's board Igor Gregorič resigned last week. The acting director Brane Dobnikar, who spoke last week of a blockade of efforts to get the institute going, also drew up a resignation statement.

Fakin told the press today that he would propose to the government to abolish the institute, which he expects will take a few months to process.

A lack of staff remains an issue

"I was assured at UKC that the programme is organised optimally and that young specialists were being secured in all categories," the minister said.

He noted that Slovenia would remain dependant on foreign experts, since 100 children with congenital heart disease are not enough to make the programme feasible logistically.

Fakin said efforts were under way to set up a regional centre, to also involve Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"We were in Croatia yesterday and met with their health minister and heads of clinics and agreed we would have a talk after New Year's. They have 200 children, we have 100. If we include Bosnia, we can set up an internationally comparable centre and team," the minister announced.

UKC Ljubljana director-general Aleš Šabeder said that the first steps would already be made at the hospital next week towards establishing a new separate unit within UKC, which would combine the children's cardiology, heart surgery and intensive care units.

"I believe we've set up a stable system that can be upgraded into a well-functioning programme. It is presently still running with the help of hired specialists from neighbouring countries, but we expect younger specialists will join too. Relations are also better, stable," Šabeder said.

UKC medical director Jadranka Buturović Ponikvar explained that for now surgery on children in Ljubljana would be performed by domestic surgeons under the supervision of Czech surgeons from Prague's Motol hospital.

While praising the cooperation with Prague, Buturović Ponikvar noted that centres abroad also have staffing crises, which is why it is not good to rely only on one.

Following the announcement today, Fakin and Prime Minister Marjan Šarec met with the representatives of parents of children with congenital heart disease.

Talking to the press after the meeting, Petra Aleš expressed satisfaction that they ensured her that independent oversight, involving a foreign institution, would be introduced for the new programme.

"The oversight will allow parents to decide once and for all whether we can trust the programme," she said, adding that the parents regretted the decision to shut down the centre "but this story has ended and it's time to move on".

The Catalan President Quim Torra visited Slovenia last week on a two-day trip, where he called for international mediation to help organise negotiations between the Catalan and Spanish authorities to deal with the region’s ongoing crisis over its proposed independence. Speaking at an event in Ljubljana hosted by the Slovenian MEP Ivo Vajgl (Alde/DeSUS) and former President Milan Kučan, Torra noted that a number of figures associated with the Catalan independence movement are in exile from Spain, while others are in jail, and that outside intervention is needed to deal with the situation in a fair and balanced manner. The full text of Predicent Torra's speech in Ljubljana can be read, in English, here. In addition to outlining the situation in Catalonia, Torra thanked Slovenian MPs and artists for their support, and noted that small nations, such as Slovenia and - perhaps one day - Catalonia, can bring prosperty to their citizens if based on democracy and strong institutions.

Torra also met informally with President Borut Pahor, who said that the independence movement was a matter for the Catalan people and Spain, and that it would not be appropriate for Slovenia to interfere.

President @QuimTorraiPla met with the former president of Slovenia, Milan Kucan. pic.twitter.com/Dc9sIqcNip

— Catalan Government (@catalangov) December 6, 2018

#President @QuimTorraiPla has explained the President of Slovenia, @BorutPahor, the political situation in Catalonia at a meeting in Ljubljana

? https://t.co/QTbfbUANtA pic.twitter.com/wxsY6KO8jX

— Catalan Government (@catalangov) December 6, 2018

Torra’s predecessor, Carles Puigdemont, is now living in exile in Belgium, and visited Slovenia during the summer of 1991 to observe its push for independence, which was declared unilaterally on June 25 of that year. This led to a 10-day war with the Yugoslav Army in which 62 people were killed, and sparked years of much bloodier conflicts in the Balkans.

Related: The Birth of Slovenia, BBC documentary

STA, 11 December 2018 - After being appointed acting police commissioner in October, Tatjana Bobnar was named for a full five-year term to the post by the government on Tuesday as the first woman to head the Slovenian police force.

Bobnar, who had previously served as deputy police commissioner since 2009, will assume her full term on Wednesday at a ceremony at the Police Academy in Tacen near Ljubljana.

Born in 1969, Bobnar joined the police force in 1993 as a crime investigator and rose through the ranks to first head the juvenile crime squad before being named the head of the operational support department and then assistant to the head of the Ljubljana Police Department.

She holds a master's degree in criminal law from the Ljubljana Faculty of Law, teaches at the Police College, and is a member of the programming councils of the Police Academy and the Faculty of Security Studies.

Bobnar was named acting police commissioner on 4 October to replace Simon Velički. Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar did not give reasons for Velički's replacement, but unofficial information indicated the pair were personally incompatible.

For the first time ever Slovenia has women in command of the police force and the army. Major General Alenka Ermenc was appointed the chief of the general staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces last month.

In a recent interview with the STA Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said he was proud that the two forces were being headed by women. "Both are extremely capable and very committed to their work, which is what counts."

Related: Slovenian Army - Alenka Ermenc Becomes First Female Major General

STA, 10 December 2018 - Slovenia dropped two spots to number 35 in the Human Freedom Index, compiled by US libertarian think-tank the Cato Institute. New Zealand tops the ranking based on 2016 statistics, followed by Switzerland, Hong Kong, Australia and Canada. Iraq, Venezuela, and Syria fared the worst among the 162 countries included in the survey.

The Ljubljana-based Visio Institute, whose head Tanja Porčnik co-authored the index, said that the ranking is based on data collected by national statistics offices. Because some data only become available up to two years later, the index is based on statistics from 2016.

The webpage for the report can be found here

https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index-new

Placing between Italy in place 34 and Slovakia in 36, Slovenia fared best in the categories of movement, association and civil society, security and safety and access to sound money. It fared poorest in size of government, legal system and property rights and the rule of law.

The global human freedom index has been sliding for years, dropping from 6.93 to 6.89 in the past year. Porčnik blames this above all on nationalism, populism and authoritarianism.

She believes that Turkey and Poland contributed the most to the slide seen in the past year, as the countries evidently suffocated the rule of law and suppressed the freedom of speech.

Among regions, North America ranks highest, followed by west Europe and Oceania. South Asia, the Middle East and north Africa fared poorest.

East Europe remained level in place five among global regions despite a drop in its index. Among the countries in the region, Ukraine's index improved the most, while Slovenia was among the countries where it dropped the most: Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Poland.

Porčnik believes the indexes of these countries dropped due to a weak rule of law and high detected corruption.

Below is a review of today’s news in Slovenia, summarised by the headlines in the daily newspapers for Wednesday, December 12, 2018, as prepared by the STA:

DELO

Delo Person of the Year
"Delo person of 2018": The editorial board has nominated ten of those who have made a mark this year, from a pair of doctors for their pioneering nose transplant surgery to six strong women, including a diver and a banker. (front page, page 4)

Food waste
"Most food thrown away by households": Slovenia produced 131,800 tonnes of food waste last year, 67,600 of which households. (front page, page 3)

Schools inspector dismissal
"Move intended to appease public opinion or an indication of change": In response to the education minister announcing the dismissal of the head of the education inspectorate, Dušan Merc, a retired headteacher who was put on trial for trying to help two harassed schoolgirls, says that the move is just part of the solution to appease the spirits. (front page, page 2)

DNEVNIK

Employment outlook
"Ever more jobs, but no workers": Employers are extremely optimistic about fresh hiring, but the question is whether their projections can be realised considering it is increasingly hard to find the right staff. (front page, page 5)

Brexit
"UK-EU: After delaying Brexit vote May meets European counterparts": British Prime Minister Theresa May launched consultations with her EU counterparts yesterday to get additional assurances about the UK's exit from the EU. (front page, page 16)

Festive season
"Entering New Year in company of Cinderella or Matiček": There is a wide choice for those who want to usher in the New Year with a festive dinner at a hotel, a party in a club or a theatre show, but many events are already sold out. (front page, page 5)

FINANCE

Construction
"Where is construction planned in Ljubljana?": The owner of the retail chain Jager has entered the real estate market by buying a sizeable plot in Moste. It is not clear whether he will build a store or flats. (front page, pages 4, 5)

IMF recommendations
"You have to prepare for rainy days when it's sunny": At the conclusion of the IMF's regular mission to Slovenia, its head Bernardin Akitoby noted that Slovenia was already on the path of structural reform, but also recommended stepping up the process. (front page, pages 2, 3)

VEČER

Cerar US visit
"Direction: US": Foreign Minister Miro Cerar has headed to the US in order to improve the relationship with the superpower. (front page, pages 2, 3)

Tax evasion
"By selling corrosion inhibitors they caused damage to budget": A criminal ring of 16 people busted yesterday is suspected of having evaded move than EUR 3m in taxes by selling corrosion inhibitors as fuel. (front page, page 21)

Slovenian in Japan
"Slovenia is Surobenia to the Japanese": Meta Klinar, the Slovenian language teacher at Tokyo University, says that the Japanese do not understand why France Prešeren, Slovenia's greatest poet, complains so much. (front page, page 17)

Rail construction
"Project of a century for Poljčane": Infrastructure Minister Alenka Bratušek visited two rail projects yesterday; the section between Maribor and Šentilj will be opened to cargo traffic on Saturday, while an upgrade of the Poljčane-Slovenska Bistrica section will also make road traffic smoother. (front page, page 9)

STA, 11 December 2018 - The three right-leaning opposition parties preparing an impeachment against Prime Minister Marjan Šarec have decided to wait with the motion until the parliament discusses Democrats-sponsored legislative changes aiming to raise state funding for private schools to 100%.

The Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi) and the National Party (SNS) were planning to file the impeachment motion today, but the NSi is to supply the needed signatures when the legislative changes make the parliamentary agenda later this month.

The parties decided to impeach Šarec after his government said it did not support the SDS-sponsored changes in late November.

While the government implied the changes failed to tackle the funding issues comprehensively, the SDS says that the changes would implement the 2014 decision by the Constitutional Court that ordered Slovenia to raise funding for private schools teaching public curricula from 85% to 100%.

Education and Sport Minister Jernej Pikalo said today that this was a political issue and a decision that should be made by the coalition.

"One of the future coalition summits will have to deal with this," said the minister who expects long coordination due to the balance of power in the National Assembly. At this moment "nobody has enough votes to go either way".

He said that his position on the issue was clear: private is only for some, while public is for everybody. He underlined however that every decision by the Constitutional Court must be addressed: "These are the fundamentals of the rule of law."

Most coalition partners meanwhile believe that impeachment would be a premature step. However, Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) MP Jurij Lep said that the motion was legitimate and he has little doubt that it will be filed.

While the prime minister's office has not responded to the news of impeachment being planned, his party said that coalition partners would discuss the motion.

Brane Golubovič of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) was critical of the opposition, saying that he would have expected them to seek dialogue about the changes before deciding for impeachment.

He also said that the coalition was very busy at the moment with the 2019 supplementary budget. "Without it neither public nor private schools will get funds next year".

Matjaž Han, the Social Democrats (SD) deputy group head, commented that the opposition had run out of ideas, adding that previous Education Minister Maja Makovec Brenčič faced a no-confidence vote due to the same changes.

"This is about more than just EUR 300,000, it's a symbolic move," Han said about the changes that would raise funding for private schools.

The junior opposition Modern Centre Party (SMC) meanwhile underlined that a Constitutional Court decision must be respected.

The Left, the minority government's partner in the opposition, is against additional funds for private schools. In fact they want to change the Constitution so as to restrict state funding only to public schools.

STA, 10 December 2018 - Foreign Minister Miro Cerar, speaking after an EU ministerial in Brussels on Monday, said the EU should respond to positive change in the Western Balkans with very concrete acts or else it risked losing the region geo-strategically.

Cerar said positive shifts could be noticed in the Western Balkans at the end of 2018, inspiring hope the region's integration into the EU could continue successfully if countries meet all the criteria.

He believes it is vital for the EU to intensively continue to integrate the region, since countries such as Russia, Turkey and China are interested in it.

"The EU is the best guarantee of Europe's stability. Countries from the region should be integrated as soon as possible, as soon as they have implemented the reforms, or else this part of Europe will be lost to us geo-strategically, which would be a major loss for our European family."

He also pointed to Slovenia's two positive initiatives for the region: an integrated border control management system, which has facilitated a shift towards better coordination in fighting crime, and an agenda for the youth.

Cerar also said the EU should do all in its power so that Serbia and Kosovo reach a comprehensive agreement solving all open issues and having no negative consequences for the broader region.

He expects the EU to decide to launch accession negotiations for Macedonia and Albania in June 2019. He believes this must be done especially if the Macedonia name agreement is implemented.

Tension with Russia in the region

Ukraine, or the escalation of tensions with Russia, was also on the EU foreign ministers' agenda, but despite calls by visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin to impose new sanctions on Russia and provide more financial aid to Ukraine, no such decision was taken.

"We did not explicitly discuss introducing new sanctions," said Cerar.

"It's now important to exert constant, decisive and unified pressure on Russia to release the arrested members of the crew and return the ship to Ukraine, and allow the freedom of navigation," he said in reference to the latest escalation of tensions in the Azov Sea.

Cerar believes there should be no need to make the sanctions more severe if Russia acted quickly to eliminate the latest violations of international law. In the opposite case, potential new or additional sanctions would probably be discussed sooner or later.

At the moment the EU hopes for some progress to be made at Tuesday's Berlin meeting of the Normandy contact group, which brings together Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.

The EU is meanwhile expected to decide at a summit this week whether to extend the sanctions against Russia which expire on 31 January. Cerar believes they will be extended.

2018 marked a few centenaries in Slovenia, including that of the National Gallery, but in terms of individuals the focus has been on Ivan Cankar, the celebrated writer who died 100 years ago today (December 11), and whose name adorns the country’s main arts and cultural centre, Cankerjev dom.

The year has seen a wide range of activities, from a staging of Pohujšanje v dolini šentflorjanski (Scandal in St. Florian Valley) by the national theatre to the publication of some of Cankar’s works in comic book form – one of which recently won “Book of the Year” (see here) – as well as less literary affairs, such as the great man’s inclusion with two other moustachioed gents in a moustache themed tour of Ljubljana (where he’s joined by the architect Jože Plečnik and painter Rihard Jakopič).

But how well known is Cankar outside of Slovenia? A visit to Amazon.com suggests only one or two books are in print in English by a man who wrote around 30, and that he remains a rather neglected figure in this, and perhaps many other, languages.

It’s thus significant that the Faculty of Arts at Ljubljana University (aka Filozofska fakulteta) recently published a volume that aims to bring one of the biggest names in Slovenian literature to a bigger audience. The texts in the anthology were translated by students, teachers and translators of Slovene from 43 universities, thus bringing up to 30 pages of Ivan Cankar to a much wider audience. The book, which can be browsed online here, is just €9 for 540 pages and divided into three parts. The first contains essays that look at different aspects of Cankar’s work – prose, poetry, drama, essays and so on – as well as his use of language. The second presents a collection of Cankar texts on various topics, while the third then translates some or all these into 21 foreign languages, including Japanese and Chinese.

Cankar spent some years living in the inn at the top of Rožnik in Ljubljana, and you can see more pictures from his time there here. In the photo shown above he's the man in the middle, with a glass of wine but without a hat

The book can be seen as the culmination of a week of events, from December 3 to 9, termed “the World Days of Ivan Cankar” (Svetovni dnevi Ivana Cankarja), which saw activities at more than 50 universities across the globe that have departments of Slovene. These included literary evenings, film screenings, lectures, conferences and readings from the anthology itself.

An adaptation of a short story by Cankar, Gospod stotnik (1915), with English subtiles. An English translation of the story can be found here, while the Slovene original is here

Slovenologists and Cankarphiles around the world could also test their knowledge of Cankar’s life and work by playing Klanec, a game designed by the Center for Slovene. The title is a reference to Cankar's most famous novel, Na klancu, and the idea of “running behind a cart” (“tek za vozom”) in the sense of never reaching your dreams. In the game a young woman is running to catch a cart that will take her to church. While in the novel she fails, in the game players get a chance to achieve their dreams by answering questions on cankar and miming words from the titles of his works.

The game, perhaps best enjoyed with a cup of coffee

You can purchase the book from the university bookstore (the Filozofska is on Aškerčeva cesta) or online, and it’s available at many other bookstores around Slovenia, with Mladinska knjiga being a good place to start looking. The game is also available at various outlets, and can be found online here. If you're intererested in learning Slovene, then perhaps take a look at our interview with two Slovenian teachers on the challenges foreigners face when studying the language, which also includes links to many other resources.